A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a headrest control system for controlling the positions of headrests mounted on seats of a motor vehicle such as a passenger car.
B. Description of the Prior Art
In general, both the front and rear seats in many passenger transporting vehicles such as automobiles are provided with respective headrests so that passengers sitting on the rear seats can enjoy a comfortable ride by leaning their heads on the headrests. However, since the headrest is mounted on the seat back at the top thereof, there arises a problem in that the field of view or visibility of the passengers and the driver can be obstructed by the headrests of seats which are not occupied. Accordingly, the headrest of a seat unoccupied by any passenger should desirably be retracted from the top of the seat back by displacing the headrest downwardly or tilting it forward or backward.
There is known an apparatus in which an electric motor or an electromagnetic solenoid is employed in such an arrangement to allow the driver to retract the rear seat headrest by the operation of a switch to thereby ensure good visibility for the driver in the backward direction through an inside or rearview mirror. The headrest control apparatus known heretofore suffers from the difficulty that a passenger sitting on the rear seat whose headrest is fully retracted to the housed position may find the procedure for adjusting the headrest to the position optimal for the passenger troublesome.